Two elderly German men who went missing from their care home were discovered among the crowds at the world’s biggest heavy metal festival.
The pair disappeared without warning from an old people’s home in the rural Dithmarschen area of northern Germany on Friday night, prompting staff to call in the emergency services.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The annual festival, whose previous headliners include metal legends such as Motorhead, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, attracts upwards of 80,000 attendees every year to the otherwise tranquil village of Wacken, in northern Germany.
Although the geriatric rockers were reported to be “disoriented and dazed”, they were “reluctant to leave” the four-day festival - only doing so with encouragement of a police escort, says Deutsche Welle.
“They obviously liked the metal festival,” police spokeswoman Merle Neufeld told state broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, adding that the care home “quickly organised return transport” for the two residents after police picked them up.
A patrol car accompanied the retirees back to the care home as a “precautionary measure”, Der Spiegel reports.
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
